President With Facial Hair - List 1. Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln was the first bearded president of the United States. But he might have entered office clean-shaven in March 1861 were it not from a letter from 11-year-old Grace Bedell of New York , who didn't like the way he looked on the 1860 campaign trail without facial hair. Bedell wrote to Lincoln before the election: "I have yet got four brothers and part of them will vote for you any way and if you let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you you would look a great deal better for your face is so thin. All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husbands to vote for you and then you would be President." Lincoln started growing a beard, and by the time he was elected and began his journey from Illinois to Washington in 1861 he had grown the beard for which he is so remembered . One note, however: Lincoln's beard was not actually a full beard. It was a "chinstrap," meaning he shaved his upper lip. Lincoln served as president from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865.

More » Ulysses Grant. Brady-Handy Photograph Collection (Library of Congress) 2. Ulysses Grant Grant was the second bearded president. Before he was elected, Grant was known to wear his beard in a manner that was described as both "wild" and "shaggy" during the Civil War. The style did not suit his wife, however, so he trimmed it back. Purists point out the Grant was the first president to wear a full beard compared to Lincoln's "chinstrap." In 1868, author James Sanks Brisbin described Grant's facial hair this way: "The whole of the lower part of the face is covered with a closely cropped reddish beard, and on the upper lip he wears a mustache, cut to match the beard." Author A. D. Peterkin noted that Grant also had the "hairiest cabinet." Grant served as president from March 4, 1869, to March 4, 1877. More » Rutherford Hayes. United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division Hayes was the third bearded president.

He reportedly wore the longest beard of the five bearded presidents, what some described as Walt Whitman -ish. Hayes served as president from March 4, 1877 to March 4, 1881. More » James Garfield. Brady-Handy Photograph Collection 4. James Garfield Garfield was the fourth bearded president. His beard has been described as being similar to that of Rasputin 's, black with streaks of gray in it. Garfield served as president from March 5, 1881, until September 19, 1881. He died after being assassinated in July of that year. More » Banjamin Harrison. United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division 5. Benjamin Harrison Harrison was the fifth bearded president. He wore a beard the entire four years he was in the White House, from March 4, 1889, to March 4, 1893. He was the last president to wear a beard, one of the more notable elements of a relatively unremarkable tenure in office.

Author O'Brien Cormac wrote this of the president in his 2004 book Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents: What Your Teachers Never Told You About the Men of the White House: "Harrison may not be the most memorable chief executive in American history, but he did, in fact, embody the end of an era: He was the last president to have a beard." More » Facial hair and Presidential elections Facial Hair and Presidential elections Only five US presidents have sported full beards, and another four had moustaches of varying degrees of glory. These were all during the half century run of the dozen Presidents between Lincoln and Taft, of whom only Andrew Johnson and McKinley were clean-shaven. The Republicans have historically been the hairier party.

Every Republican candidate from 1856 to 1892 (with the arguable exception of 1860) had a beard, with a later run of moustaches on Roosevelt in 1904, Taft in 1908 and Roosevelt and Taft in 1912 followed by a final beard in 1916 (and a postscript for the moustache in 1944 and 1948). We should not forget also the vast mutton-chop whiskers of Chester A. Arthur, who was elected Vice-President on the Republican ticket in 1880 but served most of that term as President after the assassination of the bearded Garfield. [Postscript: Tom Mason asks in an email why I do not feature the "filthy" mutton chop whiskers of Martin Van Buren, who defeated the cleanshaven William Harrison in 1836 but was in turn defeated by him in 1840. To be honest I think sideburns are a bit of a grey area.

John Quincy Adams, elected by the House of Representatives in 1824 despite the relatively clean-shaven Andrew Jackson's superiority in the popular vote, also had reasonable growth in front of his ears. Adams too was defeated by Jackson when they went head-to-head again in 1828, so perhaps we can say that sideburns are definitely a bad move. But then what are we to make of George Washington? Have a look at him on a dollar bill - are those real, or part of his wig? And Tyler, Jackson, Madison, John Adams - side burns, or just long hair?] [Further postscript, 2011: a former Commissioner of the NewYork City Department of Records emails to correct my misperception of Horace Greeley's facial hair. On further investigation I found I must reassess the situations of George McClellan and Horatio Seymour as well.] The Democrats have never had a properly bearded candidate. Their losing candidates in 1864, 1868 and 1872 had really stupid beards - one a wee tuft combined with a luxurious moustache, the other two with grotesquely extended sideburns meeting below.

The only successful Democrat who even went as far as a moustache was Grover Cleveland, who won the popular vote three times running in 1884, 1888 and 1892. (Cleveland lost the electoral college in 1888 to Benjamin Harrison, so far the last American President with a proper beard.) The hairiest Democrat was Winfield Scott Hancock, whose huge moustache did not help him in the 1880 election, and Democrats with moustaches lost in 1864 and 1904.

I shall list my sources for this fairly trivial information below, but first let's cut to the chase with a summary of my findings (inclding internal links to the coverage of each election down the page): Summary: 39 elections where all the major candidates were cleanshaven: 1789, 1792, 1796, 1800, 1804, 1808, 1812, 1816, 1820, 1825, 1828, 1832, 1836, 1840, 1844, 1848, 1852, 1860 , 1896, 1900, 1920, 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936, 1940, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 

1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000 3 elections where a cleanshaven candidate beat candidate(s) with moustache(s): 1912 , 1944, 1948 2 elections where a cleanshaven candidate beat a candidate with a beard: 1856 , 1916 (arguably also 1876 ) 1 election where a candidate with a moustache beat a cleanshaven opponent: 1908 1 election where both major candidates had moustaches: 1904 2 elections where a candidate with a moustache beat a candidate with a beard: 1884 , 1892 (arguably also 1888) 1 elections where a bearded candidate beat a cleanshaven candidate: 1876 (at least officially) 2 elections where a candidate with a beard beat a candidate with a moustache: 1880 , 1888 (at least officially) No election where more than one candidate had a proper beard, but 3

 where a candidate with a proper beard defeated a candidate with a really really weird one: 1864 , 1868 , and 1872 .

Frémont (Kathie Watson) 1864 This was the first election where both main candidates had facial hair, as shown in the New York World cartoon on the left where the Democrat McClellan, with moustache and wee chin tuft in the role of Hamlet, addresses full-bearded Lincoln, in the role of Yorick's skull. The voters went for the hairier Lincoln, who of course lived only six weeks into his second term. His successor, Andrew Johnson, was cleanshaven. 1868 The cleanshaven Johnson was in a hairy situation; he had been elected Vice-President as a Democrat on effectively a Republican ticket; things were not easy and he came within a hair's breadth of being removed from office. The Republicans turned to the full-bearded Civil War general Ulysses S Grant; the Democrats chose Horatio Seymour, who had one of those wacky arrangements where his face and chin were cleanshaven but his sideburns met underneath, and lost (though with a respectable share of the vote). Grant and Seymour ( Nancy Winkler ) 1872 The Republicans stuck with Grant and his beard, seen to the left in soft focus in a contemporary campaign poster.

The Democrats chose veteran newspaper editor Horace Greeley, who had a similar arrangement to his predecessor Seymour. (I am very grateful to Brian G. Andersson, the former Commissioner of the New York City Department of Records, for putting me right on this.) Greeley lost the election by a huge margin and died three weeks later. 1876 The Republicans ran a bearded candidate, Rutherford Hayes, for the fourth time running, and the Democrats once again turned to a cleanshaven candidate, Samuel Tilden. Tilden won the election in the popular vote, and probably should have won the electoral college as well; but as in 2000, the disputed votes from Florida proved crucial and Hayes took office in 1877. Tilden and Hayes ( Duke University ) 1880 The 1880 Presidential election reminds me very much of the Knights who say Ni! from Monty Python and the Holy Grail , and their obsession with shrubbery. Republican presidential candidate James Garfield sported a fine beard, as did Democratic vice-presidential candidate William H. English.

The Democratic main contender, Winfield Scott Hancock, had a luxuriant moustache but at the time of the election a cleanshaven chin (it's not very clear from the campaign caricatures, but Hancock's biographer David Jordan emailed to put me right), whereas Garfield's running mate on the Republican ticket, Chester A. Arthur, boasted an amazing set of mutton-chop sideburns (so long that they look rather like a scarf in the campaign literature). Overall the Republican ticket was hairier than the Democrats, and they won the popular vote by a hair's breadth though with a solid margin in the electoral college. Garfield was assassinated a few months after taking office, and the bewhiskered Arthur served the rest of his term. 1884 Yet again, the Republican candidate, James G. Blaine, boasted a full beard; but for the first time since 1856 the Democrats won the presidency with Grover Cleveland and his impressive moustache. 1888,1892 Cleveland's moustache was sufficiently popular that he won the popular vote in both the 1888 and 1892 elections.

The Republican candidate on both occasions was the bearded Benjamin Harrison, whose grandfather had briefly been President in 1841. Although Harrison lost the popular vote both times, in 1888 the votes he did get were in the right places and he won the electoral college and therefore the Presidency. He is therefore the last bearded President to date. 1904 The 1896 and 1900 elections pitched the same two clean-shaven candidates against each other, Republican William McKinley defeating Democrat William Jennings Bryan both times. But McKinley was assassinated only a few months into his second term, and his Vice-President Theodore Roosevelt, who sported a decent moustache, was the Republican candidate in 1904. His Democratic opponent, the otherwise completely forgotten Alton Parker, also had a reasonable moustache. (Parker's picture was by far the most difficult to track down for me when compiling this page.) Roosevelt and Parker ( Linda C.

Joseph ) 1908 The last man to win the Presidency with facial hair was William Howard Taft, Roosevelt's chosen successor as the Republican candidate in the 1908 election, whose moustache was rather more resplendent than Roosevelt's. His Democratic opponent, William Jennings Bryan, was cleanshaven, and was also hoping to make it third time lucky, having already lost to McKinley in 1896 and 1900. He lost again. 1912 The 1912 election marked the first real defeat for facial hair since 1856 (1896 and 1900 don't count as both candidates were cleanshaven). Roosevelt fell out with Taft, and although he lost the Republican nomination he ran as a third party candidate and outpolled Taft in the popular vote. Both candidates, and their moustaches, were however defeated by the cleanshaven Woodrow Wilson. Roosevelt, Taft and Wilson ( Brown University ) 1916 The last bearded man to run for the Presidency was Charles Evan Hughes, the Republican candidate narrowly defeated by Woodrow Wilson in 1916.

It is said that Hughes "grew his famous beard in 1890 in the interest of efficiency - to save trips to the barber." Theodore Roosevelt, reconciled with the Republican Party, unenthusiastically campaigned for Hughes whom he called "Wilson with whiskers". Hughes apparently went to bed on election night thinking he had won, and was woken in the morning to learn that he had lost. He later served both as Secretary of State and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. 1944, 1948 It was over a quarter of a century before either major party chose a candidate with facial hair. But faced with the hopeless task of displacing Franklin Roosevelt in 1944, the Republicans opted for the moustached Thomas E. Dewey. He was chosen again to oppose Harry Truman in 1948, and while he did better than two cleanshaven minor candidates, Henry Wallace and Strom Thurmond, he was defeated by Truman. All serious presidential candidates since have been cleanshaven.

Dewey Bro Council A Historical Look At Presidential Beards (And Facial Hair) August 19, 2016 The US Presidential Beards It has been a rare sight throughout history to see the President of the United States sporting facial hair. As most of us have witnessed, it's now always a clean shaven face that wins the race. Around the 1960's, beards became extremely popular among the hippie counterculture involving drugs and uncleanliness which made them grow even more unfashionable in the political world. What also effected the outlook on facial hair was Fidel Castro and radicals during the 1960's wearing them which added the stigma of "American hating" to beards. It has even been blamed for some candidates losing elections. But times they are a changin'! And facial hair is on the upswing with more and more people growing. It's only a matter of time before we have another President with facial hair. Plus, there is now a group known as the Bearded Entrepreneurs for the Advancement of a Responsible Democracy who are trying to bring facial hair back into politics because it shows dedication, which they believe will replicate in their public service.

This committee also provides financial support to political campaigns of those with beards. Awesome, right? While we wait for the next one, let's check out the few historical Presidents of the USA who dared to abandon their razors for beards, mustaches, and mutton chops! John Quincy Adams The first President who was the son of a President is also our first president with real facial hair (sorry, sideburns don't count George Washington). After he and his mutton chops were not re-elected as President, they were both elected to serve in the House of Representatives until his death, when he had a stroke on the floor of the House. Martin Van Buren Van Buren was only around 5 feet 6 inches tall, but his mutton chops made him look much larger in stature. The "Little Magician" was not one of our better-known presidents but he did oppose the expansion of slavery, and because of that he blocked the annexation of Texas so that slave territory wouldn't increase. At least he did something positive during his term other than just looking awesome. Abraham Lincoln Honest Abe was an amazing man with an amazing beard.

He grew up with little money and little education, and worked hard to further his education while being a farmhand, splitting logs for fences, and working as a shopkeeper. Even though his assassination was tragic, the words from his second inaugural address should live with us forever "With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds." You're the man, Abe. Ulysses S. Grant After the embarrassment to the Union known as the Battle of Shiloh, there were a lot of people calling for the resignation of General Grant. Lincoln defended him by saying "I can't spare this man, he fights." He fought, he recovered, and helped lead the Union to victory. There's no doubt that his beard inspired his soldiers on at least some small scale. Also, he looked like Russell Crowe. Rutherford B. Hayes You thought the John Kerry - George W. Bush election was rough?

Hayes went to bed thinking he had lost the 1876 election, and woke up with a popular vote that showed 4,300,000 votes for his opponent and 4,036,000 for Hayes. After months of debate over contested electoral votes, Congress created an Electoral Commission to decide who would be president. The commission had eight Republicans and seven Democrats, and Hayes won by a margin of (you guessed it) eight to seven. Also, he looks like the old-guy-neighbor from Home Alone. James Garfield President Garfield was in office for less than a year before he was shot by an assassins bullet. As a native of Cuyahoga County, Ohio he became the first of many Cleveland leaders who couldn't last through an entire contract.

(We would like to apologize to Cleveland Browns fans, Tim Couch, Kelly Holcomb, Jeff Garcia, Luke McCown, Trent Dilfer, Charlie Frye, Derek Anderson, Brady Quinn, Ken Dorsey, Bruce Gradkowski, Jake Delhomme, Seneca Wallace, Colt McCoy, Thad Lewis, Brandon Weeden, Brian Hoyer, Jason Campbell, and the descendants of James Garfield for that joke.) Chester Arthur As President, Arthur tried to lower the US tariff rates so that the Government (get this) would not be "embarrassed by annual surpluses of revenue." That's right folks, in the 1880's the government had to be careful not to have too much money left over at the end of the year. Oh, the good ol' days.... Grover Cleveland Cleveland entered the White House as a bachelor. And, in June 1886 the 49-year-old Cleveland married 21-year-old Frances Folsom. He was only the second president married while in office, and the first who was married in the White House. Nice work, Grover - that mustache definitely helped. Also, he looks like Bill Murray's brother.

Benjamin Harrison Harrison was another 5 foot 6 president, and another president who had to deal with the "treasury surplus." We just wanted to re-iterate that the US Government once had too much money. Fun Fact: Harrison is distantly related to the Harrison family from History Channel's Pawn Stars. Theodore Roosevelt Roosevelt liked to "speak softly and carry a big stick" and was lieutenant colonel of the Rough Rider Regiment. This tough president loved the outdoors, expanded our national forests, went on safaris, and even created a political ticket named the Bull Moose Party. He was a man's man, and wore a mustache worthy of his personality. You're the man, Teddy. William Howard Taft Taft was 5 foot 11 inches tall and weighed 340 pounds. The thing people most remember about him is that he (may have) been stuck in a bathtub at some point during his presidency. While that story remains an unconfirmed legend, the fact remains that Taft should be known for something completely different. He was the last US President to have any real facial hair. Based on the requirements of this article, Taft truly was the last manly president.

If you want more like this, you can check out our Beards of the Month here . 98 Fun Facts about U.S. Presidents | FactRetriever.com 98 Fun Facts about U.S. Presidents By Karin Lehnardt, Senior Writer Published September 17, 2016 The only president to be unanimously elected was George Washington (1732-1799). He also refused to accept his presidential salary, which was $25,000 a year.[2] Because the KKK was a powerful political force, Truman was encouraged to join the organization. According to some accounts, he was inducted, though he was “never active.” Other accounts claim that though he gave the KKK a $10 membership fee, he demanded it back and was never inducted or initiated.[6][9] Grover Cleveland was the only president in history to hold the job of a hangman.

He was once the sheriff of Erie County, New York, and twice had to spring the trap at a hanging.[11] The “S” in Harry S Truman doesn’t stand for anything; therefore, there is no period after his middle initial.[10] Lincoln Logs are named after Abraham Lincoln and the log cabin where he was born. John Lloyd Wright, son of famous architect Francis Lloyd Wright, invented them.[11] By carving up Shakespeare's chair, Jefferson and Adams became some of America's earliest vandals Thomas Jefferson and John Adams once traveled to Stratford-upon-Avon to visit Shakespeare’s birthplace. While there, they took a knife to one of Shakespeare’s chairs so they could take home some wood chips as souvenirs.[9] James Madison and Thomas Jefferson were once arrested together for taking a carriage ride in the countryside of Vermont on a Sunday, which violated the laws of that state.[9] Andrew Johnson is the only tailor ever to be president. As president, he would typically stop by a tailor shop to say hello. He would wear only the suits that he made himself.[1] George Washington never lived in the White House. The capital was actually located in Philadelphia and other cities when Washington was president.

He is also the only president who didn’t represent a political party.[2] James Abram Garfield (1831-1881) is the first president to ever talk on the phone. When he spoke to Alexander Graham Bell, who was at the other end 13 miles away, he said: “Please speak a little more slowly.”[11] Twenty-ninth president Warren Gamaliel Harding (1865-1923) repeatedly made love to a young girl, Nan Britton, in a White House closet. On one occasion, Secret Service agents had to stop his wife from beating down the closet door.[5] Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) was the first president to be inaugurated in Washington, D.C.[8] The term “O.K.” derives from President Martin Van Buren (1782-1862) who was known as “Old Kinderhook” because he was raised in Kinderhook, New York. “O.K.” clubs were created to support Van Buren’s campaigns.[11] President Grover Cleveland (1837-1908) is the only president to be elected to two nonconsecutive terms.

He was the 22nd and 24th president.[10] Bush is the only recorded U.S. president in history to vomit on a foreign dignitary After President Bush Sr. vomited on the Japanese Prime Minister, a new word entered the Japanese language. Bushusuru means “to do the Bush thing,” or to publicly vomit.[11] John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s (1917-1963) famous inaugural line “Ask not what you your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country” echoes similar directives made by many others, including Cicero, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. and President Warren G. Harding, who told the 1916 Republican convention: “We must have a citizenship less concerned about what the government can do for it, and more anxious about what it can do for the nation.”[11] Martin Van Buren was the first to be a United States citizen.

All previous presidents were born British subjects.[7] Six presidents were named James: Madison, Monroe, Polk, Buchanan, Garfield, and Carter.[11] President Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969) was the only president to serve in both WWI and WWII.[8] Richard Milhous Nixon (1913-1994) was the first president to visit all 50 states and the first to visit China. He is the only president to resign.[10] James Earl “Jimmy” Carter (1924-) was the first president to be born in a hospital.[11] Jimmy Carter is the first known president to go on record as seeing a UFO.[11] Before he was president, Lincoln was a licensed bartender Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) is the only U.S. president who was also a licensed bartender. He was co-owner of Berry and Lincoln, a saloon in Springfield, Illinois.[2] George H. W.

Bush (1924-) was the first serving vice president to be elected president since Martin Van Buren.[11] William Jefferson “Bill” Clinton (1946-) was the first U.S. Democratic president to win re-election since FDR.[11] Abraham Lincoln was the only presidential candidate who was not a Mason in the 1860 election.[9] President James Buchanan (1791-1868) quietly but consistently bought slaves in Washington, D.C., and then set them free in Pennsylvania.[7] Herbert Clark Hoover (1874-1964) gave his White House servants strict orders to hide from him whenever he passed by. Those who failed to do so were at risk of being fired.[7] James Buchanan is the only bachelor president. He was virtually inseparable from William R. King (1786-1853), a senator from Alabama, earning the pair the nickname “Miss Nancy and Aunt Fancy” and “Mr. Buchanan and his wife.”[3] Ulysses S.

Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant, 1822-1885) smoked at least 20 cigars a day and, after a brilliant war victory, a nation of well wishers sent him more than 10,000 cigars. He later died of throat cancer.[9] Dwight D. Eisenhower had an affair with his wartime driver, Kay Summersby (1908-1975). Kay later wrote a book called Past Forgetting: My Love Affair with Dwight D. Eisenhower in which she claims he was impotent.[5] John F. “Jack” Kennedy most likely had the most active extramarital sex life of any president. He allegedly slept with Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Audrey Hepburn, Angie Dickinson, stripper Blaze Starr, Marlene Dietrich, and many other women including White House staffers, secretaries, stewardess, campaign workers, strippers, and acquaintances of trusted male friends.

The FBI taped sounds of him and Inga Arvad making love.[4] Johnson nicknamed his genitals "Jumbo" Lyndon Baines Johnson “LBJ”(1908-1973) affectionately called the many women he slept with his “harem.” He even had a buzzer system installed that rang inside the Oval Office so that Secret Service could warn him when his wife was coming.[3] Every member of Teddy Roosevelt’s family owned a pair of stilts, including the first lady.[11] Sally Hemings (ca. 1773-1885) was not only Jefferson’s slave, but also the half-sister of Jefferson’s dead wife. She is said to have been Jefferson’s mistress for thirty-eight years, and scholars have argued for years whether Jefferson was the father of her children. DNA tests in 1998 revealed that a male in Jefferson’s line was the father of at least one of her children, though it did not prove conclusively that Jefferson himself fathered them.[3] When Martin Van Buren wrote his autobiography after serving as president from 1837-1841, he didn’t mention his wife of 12 years.

Not even once.[9] John Tyler (1790-1862) had more children than any other president. He had eight by his first wife and seven by his second. He was 70 when his last child, Pearl, was born. He was also the first president to get married in office, though his eight children form his first wife did not approve of the wedding and did not attend.[10] Ronald Wilson Reagan (1911-2004) won the Most Nearly Perfect Male Figure Award from the University of California in 1940.[11] Thomas Jefferson had a family of plants named after him, Jeffersonia diphylla, which is also known as twin root or rheumatism root.[11] Thomas Jefferson wrote “The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth,” which was discovered after his death by his daughter. It argues that Jesus Christ was a great thinker, but that he was devoid of other worldly qualities that made him the center of Christianity.[11] James Madison (1751-1836) was the shortest president of the United States, standing at only 5’4”.

He never weighed more than 100 pounds.[10] George Washington made the shortest inauguration speech on record—133 words and less than two minutes long.[2] William Henry Harrison (1773-1841) holds the record for the longest inauguration speech in history at 8,578 words long and one hour and 40 minutes. Unfortunately, he gave the speech during bad weather and a month later, he was dead from pneumonia, making his the shortest presidency on record.[10] John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) would often skinny dip in the Potomac River.[9] Adams would swim at 5 a.m.

in the Potomac River every day to deal with the stress of being president George Washington, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, James Polk, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, James Garfield, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft, Warren Harding, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, and Gerald Ford were all Masons, many symbols of which are found on American currency.[9] The body of John Scott Harrison, father of President of Benjamin Harrison, was stolen by grave robbers and sold to Ohio Medical College in Cincinnati for use as a training cadaver. The body was eventually recovered and reburied.[11] Gerald Rudolph Ford’s (1913-2006) name before he was adopted was Leslie Lynch King Jr.[7] The youngest president was Teddy Roosevelt who became president at age 42 when McKinley (1843-1901) was assassinated.

JFK was the youngest president elected at the age of 43.[10] As a young man, Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822-1893) fought lyssophobia, or the fear of going insane.[11] Three presidents died on July 4th: Thomas Jefferson (1826), John Adams (1826), and James Monroe (1831). Calvin Coolidge is the only president to have been born on the Fourth (1872).[8] George Herbert Walker Bush is the only President with four names.[11] James Garfield could write Latin with one hand and Greek with the other hand simultaneously.[9] Roosevelt was also the first President to win a Nobel Peace Prize “Teddy Bears” were so named when Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt (1858-1919) refused to shoot a small bear cub one day.

The incident was reported in the news, which inspired a toy manufacture to come out with the cute stuffed animals.[1] The three best known Western names in China are Jesus Christ, Elvis Presley, and Richard Nixon.[11] James Monroe (1758-1831) once chased his Secretary of State from the White House with a pair of fire tongs.[9] When Mexican general Santa Ana demanded Zachary Taylor (“Old Rough and Ready,” 1784-1850) to surrender, Taylor said, “Tell him to go to hell.”[9] Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) was reportedly involved in over 100 duels, most to defend the honor of his wife, Rachel. He had a bullet in his chest from an 1806 duel and another bullet in his arm from a barroom fight in 1813 with Missouri senator Thomas Hart Benton.[7] Herbert Hoover was an orphan whose first job was picking bugs off potato plants, for which he was paid a dollar per hundred bugs. He also was a mine worker.[2] Gerald Ford worked as a model during college.

He also worked as a forest ranger at Yellowstone National Park directing traffic and feeding the bears.[1] In 1945, Congress voted to commemorate the work FDR did for the March of Dimes by putting his profile on the coin.[9] Abraham Lincoln was the first president to ever be photographed at his inauguration. In the photo, he is standing near John Wilkes Booth, his future assassin.[11] Robert Lincoln is the only man in U.S. history known to have witnessed the assassinations of three different presidents, his father, James Garfield, and William McKinley. After he saw anarchist Leon Czolgosz shoot McKinley, he vowed he would never again appear in public with an incumbent president.[9] An anarchist and lawyer named Charles Guiteau shot James Garfield in the back with a five-barrel, .44-caliber pistol called a British Bulldog in 1881. He said he chose the gun because it would look good on a display in a museum someday. No one currently knows where the gun is.[2] Taft was also the only U.S. president to also serve as chief justice of the U.S.

Supreme Court At 325 pounds, William Howard Taft (1857-1930), who was dubbed “Big Bill,” was the largest president in American history and often got stuck in the White House bathtub. His advisors had to sometimes pull him out.[2] The first attempt to assassinate a president was on Andrew Jackson by Richard Lawrence, a house painter. Both of his guns misfired, however—an event that statisticians say could occur only once in 125,000 times. Andrew Jackson then chased Lawrence with his walking stick.[10] James Garfield didn’t die from the gunshot wounds from his assassin’s gun; he died of blood poisoning after doctors and experts (including Alexander Graham Bell) tried to remove the bullet from his back with their dirty fingers and instruments, causing him to linger in pain for 80 days before dying. His assassin, Charles Guiteau, later claimed that he didn’t kill the president, the doctors had.[9] Harding was obsessed with poker and once bet an entire set of priceless White House China and lost it.[11] During his second run for presidency, Teddy Roosevelt was shot by a would-be assassin while giving a speech in Milwaukee.

He continued to deliver his speech with the bullet in his chest.[9] Woodrow Wilson (born Thomas Woodrow Wilson, 1856-1924) would paint his golf balls black during the winter so he could continue playing in the snow.[1] Thomas Jefferson was convinced that if he soaked his feet in a bucket of cold water every day, he’d never get a cold.[11] Teddy Roosevelt’s last request before dying was “Please put out the light.” Thomas Jefferson’s last words were “This is the Fourth?” John Adam’s dying words were “Thomas Jefferson still survives,” unaware that Jefferson had passed away a few hours earlier.[11] George Washington didn’t have enough money to get to his own inauguration so he had to borrow $600 from his neighbor.[9] Washington, Jackson, Van Buren, Taylor, Fillmore, Lincoln, A. Johnson, Cleveland, and Truman did not attend college. Harry Truman is the only twentieth-century president without a college degree.[2] On his epitaph, which he composed, Jefferson mentions that he was the author of the Declaration of Independence and the Statuette of Virginia for Religious Freedom and that he was the father of the University of Virginia.

He neglected to mention he had been the President of the United States.[7] No man who ever held the office of president would congratulate a friend on obtaining it. - John Adams The capital of Liberia is called Monrovia after President James Monroe.[11] In 1978, President Jimmy Carter, the first Southerner elected to the presidency following the Civil War, restored U.S. citizenship to Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States of America.[9] Samuel Mudd, the doctor who treated the broken ankle of Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth, received a presidential pardon in 1869 from Ulysses S. Grant.[9] No president has ever been an only child.[10] Historians argue whether George Washington actually added the phrase "“so help me God” to the end of presidential oath. As far as can be determined, the first President who is known to have appended the phrase to the oath was Chester Alan Arthur.

He added the phrase when he was sworn into office on September 22, 1881, after the death of President Garfield.[2] John Adams' campaign propaganda against Jefferson said that if Jefferson was elected, “murder, robbery, rape, adultery, and incest will be openly taught and practiced.” They later resolved their differences and wrote many letters to each other.[9] It was so cold at Ulysses S. Grant’s presidential inauguration that the canaries that were supposed to sing at the inaugural ball froze to death.[11] Calvin Coolidge liked to have his head rubbed with petroleum jelly while eating his breakfast in bed.[2] He believed rubbing the jelly on his head was good for his health Every so often, Calvin Coolidge would press all the buttons on the President’s desk and hide and watch his staff run in. He would then pop out from behind the door and say that he was just seeing if everyone was working.[2] The first president to be born outside the original 13 States was Lincoln.[11] Jimmy Carter was a wealthy peanut farmer in Plains, Georgia.

A farming accident left one of his fingers permanently bent.[2] William McKinley, Grover Cleveland, and James Madison are on the $500, $1000, and $5000 bill, respectively. The bills are still used as legal tender but are no longer being printed.[2] Abraham Lincoln is the only president to receive a patent (# 6469). He was the first president to have a beard, at the request from a little girl named Gracie Bedell. The first child to die in the White House was Abraham Lincoln’s 12-year old son, Willie.[9] Abraham Lincoln was the tallest president at 6' 4."[9] Several of his descendants and a few historians claim that John Hanson (1721-1783) is actually the forgotten first president of the United States because he was the first president under the Articles of Confederation.[10] William McKinley was the first to ride in a self-propelled vehicle—the electric ambulance that took him to the hospital after he had been shot.[11] The presidential faces on Mount Rushmore are as high as a five-story building, about 60' from chin to top of the head.

The pupils of eyes are 4' across and the mouths are 18' wide. The carving took 14 years, from 1927-1941. The total cost was about $990,000. A total 450,000 tons of stone was removed.[2] George Washington’s original ancestral name was de Wessyngton, from a certain William de Hertburn, a twelfth-century noble knight of the manor and village of Wessyngton who later changed his name to de Wessyngton (which is the Norman spelling of Washington).[9] Woodrow Wilson was the first to show a motion picture in the White House: The Birth of Nation, which has become the most banned film in American history.[11] JFK died younger than any other U.S. president to date JFK was the first Roman Catholic to be president, the first Boy Scout to become president, and the first president to be born in the twentieth century.[9] Warren Harding was the first president to own a radio, the first to make speech over the radio, and the first to ride to his inauguration in a car.

When women got the right to vote, he was the first president they could elect.[11] Gerald Ford was the first person to be both vice president and president without being elected by the people. He was appointed vice president when Spiro Agnew resigned and he succeeded to the presidency when Nixon resigned.[7] Rutherford Hayes banished alcohol from the White House and held gospel sing-alongs every night in the White House.[11] Andrew Johnson was the first president to be impeached. He was acquitted by one vote in the Senate. It would be another 131 years before another president, Bill Clinton, would be impeached.[10] Pinnable Facts Keyword Tags #Educational #FactOfTheDay #Interesting #FastFacts #Awesome #SchoolProject #Animation #YouTube #Conservative #Democrat #Liberal #Politics #Republican #Government #PresidentsDay #February #GeorgeWashington #USPresidents #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #AbrahamLincoln #TheodoreRoosevelt #Shakespeare #WashingtonDC #Elections #WWI #WWII #WhiteHouse #InaugurationDay #TeddyBear #ExecutiveBranch References 1 Boller, Paul F. Jr.

Presidential Diversion: Presidents at Play from George Washington to George W. Bush. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Books, 2007. 2 Frank, Sid and Arden Davis Melick. The Presidents: Tidbits and Trivia. New York, NY: Greenwich House, 1977. 3 Garrison, Webb. Love, Lust, and Longing in the White House. Nashville, TN: Cumberland House, 2000. 4 Gregory, Leland H. Presidential Indiscretions. New York, NY: Dell Publishing, 1999. 5 Hagood, Wesley O. Presidential Sex: From the Founding Fathers to Bill Clinton. Secaucus, NJ: Citadel Press, 1996. 6 McCullough, David.Truman. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2003. 7 McPhereson, James M., Ed. “To the Best of My Ability”: The American Presidents. New York, NY: Dorling Kindersley Publishing, Inc ,2000. 8 Nelson, Michael, Ed. The Presidency: A to Z. Washington D.

C.: Congressional Quarterly, Inc, 1998. 9 O’Brien, Cormac. Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents: What Your Teachers Never Told You about the Men of the White House. Philadelphia, PA: Quirk Books ,2004. 10 Smith, Carter. Presidents: Every Question Answered. Irvington, NY: Hylas Publishing, 2004. 11 Stebben, Gregg and Jim Morris. White House Confidential: The Little Book of Weird Presidential History. Nashville, TN: Cumberland House Publishing ,1998. Suggested for you Last President With Facial Hair - Benjamin Harrison By Tom Murse Updated October 12, 2016. It's been more than a century since the last president with facial hair served in office. The last president to wear a full beard in office was Benjamin Harrison , who served from March 1889 to March 1893. The last president to wear any facial hair was William Howard Taft , who sported a mustache during his term in the White House from March 1909 to March 1913.

Take a look around halls of power in Washington, D.C. now, though. Facial hair has all but disappeared from American politicians. There are very few bearded politicians in Congress . Being clean-shaven wasn't always the norm, though. There are plenty of presidents with facial hair in U.S. political history. Where did they all go? What happened to the beard? List of Presidents With Facial Hair At least 11 presidents had facial hair. They are: William Taft , who wore a mustache. Why Modern Day Presidents Don't Wear Facial Hair The last major-party candidate with a beard to even run for president was Republican Charles Evans Hughes in 1916. He lost. The beard, like every fad, fades and re-emerges in popularity. Lincoln, perhaps America's most famous bearded politician, was the first president to wear a beard in office. But he began his candidacy clean-shaven and only grew his facial hair at the request of an 11-year-old schoolgirl, Grace Bedell. Times have changed, though. Very few people beg political candidates, presidents or members of Congress to grow facial hair since the 1800s.

The New Statesman summed up the state of facial hair since then: "Bearded men enjoyed all of the privileges of bearded women." Beards, Hippies and Communists In 1930, three decades after the invention of the safety razor made shaving safe and easy, the author Edwin Valentine Mitchell wrote that, "In this regimented age the simple possession of a beard is enough to mark as curious any young man who has the courage to grow one." After the 1960s, when beards were popular among hippies , facial hair grew even more unpopular among politicians, many of whom wanted to distance themselves from the counterculture. There were very few bearded politicians in politics because candidates and elected officials did not want to appear as either Communists or hippies, according to Slate.com's Justin Peters. "For many years, wearing a full beard marked you as the sort of fellow who had Das Kapital stashed somewhere on his person," Peters wrote in 2012. "In the 1960s, the more-or-less concurrent rise of Fidel Castro in Cuba and student radicals at home reinforced the stereotype of beard-wearers as America-hating no-goodniks.

The stigma persists to this day: No candidate wants to risk alienating elderly voters with a gratuitous resemblance to Wavy Gravy." Author A.D. Perkins, writing in his 2001 book One Thousand Beards: a Cultural History of Facial Hair, notes that modern-day politicians are routinely instructed by their advisers and other handlers to "remove all traces of facial hair" before launching a campaign for fear of resembling " Lenin and Stalin (or Marx for that matter)." "The beard has been the kiss of death for Western politicians ..." Perkins writes. Bearded Politicians in Modern Day The absence of bearded politicians has not gone unnoticed.

In 2013 a group called the Bearded Entrepreneurs for the Advancement of a Responsible Democracy launched a political action committee whose aim is to support political candidates with both "a full beard, and a savvy mind full of growth-oriented policy positions that will move our great nation towards a more lush and magnificent future." The BEARD PAC claimed that "individuals with the dedication to grow and maintain a quality beard are the kinds of individuals that would show dedication to the job of public service." Said BEARD PAC founder Jonathan Sessions: "With the resurgence of beards in popular culture and among today’s younger generation, we believe the time is now to bring facial hair back into politics." The BEARD PAC determines whether to offer financial support to a political campaign only after submitting the candidate to its review committee, which investigates the "quality and longevity" of their beards. Abraham Lincoln's Beard ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S BEARD: THE IDEA OF AN 11-YEAR-OLD GIRL! It was the fall of 1860. Abraham Lincoln was the Republican nominee for president of the United States. Election Day was less than a month away. Mr.

Lincoln, a lifelong beardless man, received a letter written by Grace Bedell, an 11-year-old girl from Westfield, New York. Written October 15th, 1860, the letter urged him to grow a beard. Unedited, Miss Bedell's letter read: Hon A B Lincoln... Dear Sir My father has just home from the fair and brought home your picture and Mr. Hamlin's. I am a little girl only 11 years old, but want you should be President of the United States very much so I hope you wont think me very bold to write to such a great man as you are. Have you any little girls about as large as I am if so give them my love and tell her to write to me if you cannot answer this letter. I have got 4 brother's and part of them will vote for you any way and if you let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you you would look a great deal better for your face is so thin. All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husband's to vote for you and then you would be President.

My father is going to vote for you and if I was a man I would vote for you to but I will try to get every one to vote for you that I can I think that rail fence around your picture makes it look very pretty I have got a little baby sister she is nine weeks old and is just as cunning as can be. When you direct your letter direct to Grace Bedell Westfield Chatauque County New York I must not write any more answer this letter right off Good bye Grace Bedell The Republican presidential nominee responded on October 19th. His letter to Grace Bedell read: Private Miss Grace Bedell My dear little Miss Your very agreeable letter of the 15th is received - I regret the necessity of saying I have no daughters - I have three sons - one seventeen, one nine, and one seven years of age - They, with their mother, constitute my whole family - As to the whiskers, having never worn any, do you not think people would call it a piece of silly affection if I were to begin it now? Your very sincere well wisher A. Lincoln The rest is history.

When Abraham Lincoln left Springfield on February 11th, 1861, bound for the White House, he was fully bearded. On February 16th the train stopped in Westfield, New York. The president-elect appeared on the train platform, and he called out for Grace. Grace was in the crowd with her two sisters, Alice and Helen. She came forth, Lincoln kissed her, and he said he took her advice. (The photograph to the left was taken in 1863 when Grace was 14; at the right is Grace in adulthood; the photograph in the center is Grace in her mid 60's.) Today, the original of Grace's letter to Lincoln is in the Burton Historical Collection of the Detroit Public Library. In the early 1990's it was offered for sale at a price of $1,000,000. A private collector who wishes to remain anonymous owns Lincoln�s letter to Grace. When she was 17, Grace married George Billings, and the couple moved to Delphos, Kansas. Billings was a former Civil War sergeant.

The couple had one child, Harlow Drake Billings, who was born on September 16, 1872. Grace passed away on Monday, November 2, 1936, two days prior to what would have been her 88th birthday. Both she and her husband are buried in the Delphos Cemetery. The text of her letter and Mr. Lincoln's reply are on a memorial that was dedicated in the town square on August 8, 1966. The Governor of Kansas, William H. Avery, presided over the dedication ceremonies. The text of the monument reads: "Delphos: the Home of Lincoln's Little Correspondent." For more on Grace Bedell see Fred Trump's Lincoln's Little Girl: A True Story or Mr. Lincoln's Whiskers by Karen B. Winnick (for younger readers). They are both excellent books. The photographs of Grace as a young girl and in her later years came from Trump's book. The photograph of the middle aged Grace came from Life of Abraham Lincoln by Clifton M. Nichols. In 2007 researcher Karen Needles found a second Grace Bedell letter to Lincoln.

It was discovered in old Treasury Department documents at the National Archives. This letter, dated January 14, 1864, was a request for Lincoln's help as Grace was seeking employment in the Treasury Department. There is no record of any response by Lincoln; it is probable that the letter never reached his desk. For more details on this second letter, CLICK HERE . In 1999 Westfield erected these statues to honor Abraham and Grace. The photographs were taken by Kieran McAuliffe and sent to me by Ed Steers. Thank you, Kieran and Ed! This is not a commercial website. None of the photographs and artwork exhibited herein are being sold by the webmaster. Some photographs and artwork are believed to be in the public domain. Any copyrighted photographs and artwork are used in the context of this website strictly for educational, research and historical purposes only, under the "Fair Use" provisions of the Copyright Act, (US CODE: Title 17,107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair Use Section 107). Anyone claiming copyright to any of the posted photographs or artwork please inform the webmaster of such and it will be duly noted or removed.

This page is part of the Abraham Lincoln Research Site. Questions, comments, corrections or suggestions can be sent to R. J. Norton , the creator and maintainer of this site. All text except reprinted articles was written by the webmaster, ©1996-2017. All rights reserved. It is unlawful to copy, reproduce or transmit in any form or by any means, electronic or hard copy, including reproducing on another web page, or in any information or retrieval system without the express written permission of the author. The website was born on December 29, 1996. Web design by

Question: Who was the first American president to have a beard
Answer: Abraham Lincoln